More Conservative Claptrap

Michael Sean Winters
|
Jan. 22, 2013
Distinctly Catholic

Over at Crisis magazine[1], there is an article by Nicholas Hahn in which he chastizes the bishops and Father Lombardi at the Vatican press office for daring to support common sense gun control measures. It is clear that Mr. Hahn cares more about the Second Amendment than he does about the Second Vatican Council. He cherry picks a few quotes from pope John Paul II, which were not on point to begin with, and fashions them into a core argument: Bishops, mind your own business and gins are not your business. Of course, Hahn and his ilk applaud the bishops when they denounce the violence of abortion, but they are misguided when they denounce the violence of the gun culture. I am more even-handed and denounce the culture of death in all of its manifestations. Still, it is always fun to see the contortions our friends on the right are willing to make when their authoritative teachers disagree with them on one of their cultural or political pecadillos.